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RAG "Flowers" show blooming at hospital

Margaretville — An exhibit of photographs by Helane Levine-Keating entitled “The Flowers Within” is on display at Margaretville Hospital as part of a Roxbury Arts Group initiative to expand its gallery program and to make the work of local artists available to a broader public.
Helane Levine-Keating’s 10 close-up, 16 x 20 and 11 x 17 photographs of orchids, poppies, lilies, and amaryllises range from realistic to abstract, from vivid to subtle. Levine-Keating, who has lived in New Kingston for the last 20 years, is a member of the Longyear Gallery in Margaretville and her color photography has appeared each summer in the Catskill Rural Aids Services (CRAS) annual art auction. Her work will be featured in an upcoming flower show at RAG in January.
“The challenge for any photographer in this current era of easy digital photography,” she notes, “is to make one’s photography transcend a snapshot, so that the mystery and emotion of a flower’s inner beauty is evoked. I’m interested in making photographs that blur the line between photography and painting, and by doing my own archival printing using Epson Ultrachrome K3 ink on Velvet Fine Art paper or Exhibition Fiber Paper, I’m often able to achieve that effect.”
Photographing flowers is one of Levine-Keating’s passions, and the majority of photographs on display were grown either in her New Kingston garden or her house.
The Roxbury Arts Group exhibits art in two galleries, The Walt Meade Gallery at 5025 Vega Mountain Road where an exhibit of paintings by Neill Driscoll and collages by Lucy Nurkse continues through Nov. 17, and at The Old Bank Gallery at 53484 state Highway 30, an exhibit of landscapes in oil by Oneonta artist Gerri Scheele opens on Nov. 8 and continues through Dec. 15. Both galleries are open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and by appointment.